Pacific tropical storm Mawar shattered two British rowing dreams

Here's a brief report from metro.co.uk ably summarized what had happening in the Pacific during the recent tropical storm Mawar:

Sarah Outen and Charlie Martell, who were separately crossing from Japan to America, made mayday distress calls when the tropical storm swept in early yesterday.

They had to wait many hours for Japanese coastguards to pick them up and Ms Outen wrapped herself in her boat's union flag because her sleeping bag was soaking wet.

Ms Outen, 26, from Rutland, who is doing a round-the-world bike and boat expedition, sent a distress signal in the early hours of the morning from her boat Gulliver.

Her support team said the sailor was 'in good spirits' shortly before rescue.

In a satellite phone message meanwhile Ms Outen said the storm had created the 'roughest and most frightening conditions I have ever been in'.

Seven hours later after Ms Outen's original distress call, Territorial Army Lieutenant Martell, 41, from Dymock, Gloucestershire, made a distress call when winds of up to 50 knots and waves of more than 15.25m (50ft) capsized his boat causing serious damage.

So the headline and byline of this report "Tropical storm Mawar scuttles British ocean rowing dreams -- Tropical storm Mawar has forced two British sailors to abandon their attempts to row across the Pacific Ocean" crisply told the whole story!  More detailed reports of the cases can be found here and here. Clearly both rowers missed their opportunity to set some world records at this time, but as this article indicated that they are both "lucky to be alive" and being young and healthy they are certainly both have plenty of opportunities in the days to come!  Better luck next time!  By the way Miss Outen has recorded her adventures in her interesting blog where she called her boat "Gulliver"and described that she's been informed and prepared for the oncoming storm which she chose to call it "Rosie" in the hope of "befriend" with the storm.

Britain June monsoon

As we are starting the early summer season in north America, it seems across the Atlantic the weather for our friends in Britain is not very exciting.  This following article in Daily Star by Keyan Milanian, entitled "It's looney June", paints a gloomy picture:

BRITAIN is being battered by a freak June monsoon.

Torrential rain and 70mph gales swept in off the Atlantic yesterday, with giant 40ft waves at sea.

The Met Office issued an amber warning, alerting hundreds of thousands of half-term holidaymakers in the south west to the freak storm.

South and west Wales were also hit.

Forecasters warned of roof damage and transport chaos, with trees uprooted.

The first day of England’s third cricket Test against the West Indies at Edgbaston, Birmingham, was washed out.

All the south will be hit today while the north of England also faces a drenching with 50mph wind gusts. Coastguards warned ships of a Force 10 storm but surfers at Porthcawl on the Welsh coast took advantage of giant waves.

Met Office forecaster Helen Chivers said: “Winds of this strength are unusual at this time of year.

“They will make travelling conditions difficult and may bring down trees.”

Fellow expert Brian Gaze of The Weather Outlook added: “This is the European Monsoon, a June weather pattern when westerly winds bringing cloud and rain return with a vengeance after easing during late spring.

“It’s a very poor early summer outlook, with further heavy showers or longer spells of rain heading for all parts.”

O well, I am sure Algore gang and followers must be blaming it all on global warming or whatever they call it at the present.  The simple truth is that we don't really know what is going on and all those glorified, almighty "models" can only verify the basic computer truth of GOGO -- garbage in garbage out!

A "Terrifying" freak wave

The Australia Daily Examiner published the following encounter story online by Dominic Zietsch this morning entitled: "'Terrifying' freak wave hits YSLSC". That's Yamba Surf Life Saving Club as shown in the above picture given in this ABC NEWS.  Yamba is located on the northern east coast of Australia south of Brisbane.

HE'S lived on the coast for years but Yamba Surf Life Saving Club (YSLSC) caretaker Mark Gillespie said he'd never experienced anything like the "terrifying" freak wave which smashed into the club house on Wednesday night.
A king tide combined with a huge swell created massive seas on Wednesday night and the YSLSC - which usually sits about 30 metres above the high water mark - had the surf lapping at its doors for most of the evening.
Mr Gillespie, who lives at the club, said with the king tide approaching he'd gone downstairs at about 8.30pm to open the roller doors to the club's boatshed which was standard procedure when the water was high to minimise structural damage to the club.
"After that I thought, 'okay I've got half an hour until the actual high tide hits, so I'll duck upstairs and make myself a coffee,'" Mr Gillespie said.
"So I grabbed my coffee and went out onto the veranda for a look and as I walked out onto the veranda I saw this huge wave coming and within two seconds it hit.
"It sounded like huge rumbling train then a massive bang, it just shook the whole place - it was pretty frightening actually."
Mr Gillespie said the spray and white water from the freak wave soaked him on the balcony which is about four metres above the ground.
YSLSC President Al Schofield said the wave - apart from making a "hell of a mess" - caused structural damage to a number of walls, broke glass sliding doors and washed away some equipment.
"We've lost some fuel cells, covers off motors and a few (rescue) boards are missing as well," Mr Schofield said.
Mr Gillespie said a lot more equipment would be missing if it wasn't for the quick thinking of an unknown young man.
"There was a young guy out taking night shots over near the pool and he saw the wave hit the building - he came running over to help me stop some of the equipment wash away," Mr Gillespie said.
Mr Gillespie said the young man helped drag one of the club's rescue boats and several surf skis from the surf - Mr Gillespie urged the young man to make himself known to the club so he could be thanked.
"He put himself in physical danger to help save a lot of our gear so he needs a big pat on the back," Mr Gillespie said.
Mr Schofield said it was too early to tell how many dollars in damage had been done to the club and said it would probably be a few weeks before all the damage could be repaired.

When we think of a beach house being hit by waves, the first picture come to mind will probably be those hunting Tsunami scenes from Japan last year.  But this is not tsunami, this is really a beach front freaque wave encounter that happened out of blue all in a few seconds!  The author of the article indicates the wave was created by "king tide combined with a huge swell" which is certainly plausible -- but we really don't know what was really happened.  We don't know why it happen to have happened at that place and at that moment without warning and how and why it all came about!  But Mr. Gillespie witnessed the whole encounter: he saw this huge wave coming and within two seconds it hit!  I think the most important aspect of his observation is that he indicated "It sounded like huge rumbling train then a massive bang . . ." and that "the spray and white water from the freak wave soaked him on the balcony which is about four metres above the ground."  That was scary! This one particularly came with sound as it arrives.  Thank God he is fine and tells us all the details he experienced -- and that brave young man "came running over" to help secure some of the equipments. I guess all in all we have no doubt that this kind of encounter can happen as it was reported.  But we just have no idea regarding to why and how?  Does it always came like a "huge rumbling train"?

Transit of Venus

Did you catch the fever of "transit of Venus" yesterday? We had a cloudy day so we couldn't see anything. But this UK dailymail  article has captured some spectacular, once in a life time pictorial event for us to enjoy!

How did the world ocean react to this event?  No freaque waves reported!

Beware of rip currents!

Who knows that we are in the Rip Current Awareness Week (June 3-9)?  This NOAA web page has some good info and advices.  Particularly these:

• Don’t swim against a rip current – it will just tire you out.
• Escape the rip current by swimming parallel to the beach until you are free.
• If you are unable to swim out of the rip current, float or calmly tread water.
• When out of the current, swim toward the shore at an angle away from the rip current.

Enjoy the beach, have a great and safe summer!

Rescue near North Sea

Here's another successful rescue story from U.K.

WHEN a freak wave capsized a boat on Friday, Whitby’s two rowing clubs put aside their competitive rivalries to help save the stricken crew.

At around 7pm the Friendship Rowing Club’s boat Eagle overturned, spilling its crew into the North Sea near the entrance to Whitby Harbour.

Coxswain was 12-year-old Amy Clarkson and rowing club captain John Eglon said that despite the four-strong male crew also being thrown into the water, their main concern was for the safety of the teenager.

He added: “She was OK but it was the initial shock, the water is freezing.”

Three other rowing vessels, one from Friendship and two from the Fisherlads Rowing Club returned to the upturned boat to aid its crew.

Mr Eglon added: “The Fisherlads rallied round and helped us out with the boats.

“Even though there is a rivalry, if anything like that happens we do help each other out.”

Fisherlands member Richard Dowson volunteers at the RNLI and was able to raise the alarm, leading to the launch of both of Whitby’s lifeboats at 7.15pm.

Lifeboat coxswain Mike Russell said: “It will have frightened them, the water is very cold. After four or five minutes you start to lose co-ordination.”

Fisherlads club member Kirsty Kemsley Tweeted about the rescue, saying that the lifeboat crew used their helmets to empty water from the boat in an attempt to refloat it. She added: “It certainly showed how both clubs can pull together to help.”

Boats such as those used by the two rowing clubs have neutral buoyancy and therefore will not sink, so the crew were able to cling on until rescue arrived.

It also means that incidents of vessels overturning are extremely rare and Mr Eglon said: “It was a freak thing, we haven’t had a boat turn over for a long, long time.”

The rowing crews had been practising the senior course, heading from off Sandsend back into Whitby, on what appeared to be a glorious spring evening.

However, by the time they reached Upgang Ravine a strong breeze had begun to blow and the boat took a few large waves, which began to fill the boat and meant they were forced to stop rowing.

Mr Eglon added: “They were trying to get the attention of the Esk Belle but they just thought they were waving at them.

“The wind was blowing them back towards the piers and then a roller came and upended them, it turned the boat upside down.”

The four male members of the crew were rescued unharmed and although Miss Clarkson received treatment at Whitby’s lifeboat station due to the effects of the cold, she also returned home safely.

It is always heart warming to read a successful rescue story. Especially when people put aside differences and other concerns. This one brightens any one's outlook and perspectives.  A wonderful day indeed!

A case from Lake Erie

This informative report by 9News was written by Dick Russ:

A sudden wave that swept several people off the beach on Sunday, was likely an edge wave, or seiche. The National Weather Service confirms the rare event which almost took the lives of three Lake County teenagers.

"It came up on us so fast we didn't have time to react," said Connor Bachmann, 15, of Madison, who was standing on the beach with a number of other people Sunday evening about 6 o'clock.

"It started pulling on us and when I turned my back it completely covered us and started pulling us out." Bachman, Molly McGill, and Rachel Pridemore were swept out almost half a mile onto the lake, almost instantly.

"I'm a strong swimmer and I never felt that helpless in my life," Bachmann admitted. "I thought I was going to die."

Jim Channell of Kirtland Hills witnessed the whole thing. He just happened to be on his jet ski, heading for shore, when he saw the seiche crash onto the beach.

"It took out the whole beach," he told WKYC, with amazement still in voice. "I didn't believe what I was seeing. Then it hit a second time."

Channell was about to come into the beach to help when he heard people yelling that three youngsters had been sucked out into the lake by the rouge wave. He turned the jet ski around, and headed out.

"I saw a hand in the water, then a head, and I reached down the pulled the boy up on the jet ski," Channell recounted, "and then saw two more heads bobbing."

The rescuer who said he "was the only person out there with a jet ski," maneuvered toward the girls and had each one hang on to one of the skis on the side of his craft. "It was an act of God that I brought that jet ski out on Sunday," he said. "There was a reason."

Some on the beach estimated the edge wave, or seiche, at seven feet. The National Weather Service, which is looking for eyewitness accounts of Sunday's phenomenon, says edge waves of 10 feet in height have been reported on Lake Erie.

On May 31, 1942, a seiche estimated as high as 15 to 20 feet tall pummeled the area around Mentor-on-the-Lake, killing 8 people and injuring a dozen more. It became known as the Lake Erie Tidal Wave.

In 1882, a similar wave about 8 feet in height, crashed into miles of shoreline both east and west of Cleveland. It is said to have gone far enough ashore to put out the fires in steel mills.

"Ive been around Lake County almost all my life and I've never heard of seiche," said Madison Fire District Chief Gene Lutz, Jr., who rushed to the scene with his paramedics after someone called in the emergency.

"We checked out the kids and made sure they were all right. I'm sure if the man with the jet ski had not been there, this incident would have had a different ending."

Connor Bachmann thought the same thingm, and remembered getting so tired in the water fighting the wave, "For a minute I thought I was not going to make it."

Bachmann said when the jet ski got close to shore and Channell told them to jump off so they didn't get hit by the ski, "I was so fatigued I couldn't even jump off. I just fell off."

"I don't look at myself as a hero," Channell, the father of a 5-year-old daughter said. "I just did what any parent would have done."

Written by Dick Russ 

It happened on Lake Erie which is certainly not uncommon and not different from any oceanic cases!

"A very lucky child"

This story from New Zealand reported by Morgan Tait of Hawke's Bay Today is a heart warming story  to read:

Jumping into a freezing, raging surf to rescue an 8-year-old tourist "one minute from death" was just human nature, says an heroic Napier fisherman.

But witnesses and health professionals are calling Stephen Fraser, a 43-year-old labourer for Mainstream Insulation, a "national hero" for his gallant efforts which they say saved the child's life.

Mr Fraser was surfcasting at Tangoio Beach, north of Whirinaki Mill, about 2pm on Sunday when a family of Korean tourists arrived at the beach, and their young son started playing near the waves.

"He was there with his family, where the waves break on the shore, wading around to his ankles, when one just washed him out," he said.

"He got sucked out and my friend Steph saw and yelled out, so I looked over and saw he was in a bit of trouble, so I went in and pulled him out.

"It was quite hard to get back in, but I got him and his father jumped in to help pull him out of the surf."

His friend, Steph Ballingall, said the waves were "massive" and the suction was so great that Mr Fraser and the boy's father were crawling on their hands and knees trying to get out.

Once on the sand, Napier man Rick Brown was among those who helped perform basic first aid on the boy before he was taken to Napier City Medical by St John Ambulance.

"I tell you what, that kid would have been dead and there could have been two or three more," he said. "I think the boy's father could have died trying to help - I watched a national hero rescue a boy less than a minute off dying.

"When I got down to the kid he was pretty crook, and this guy was prepared to risk his life and he did, there were some pretty big dumpers out there."

Mr Brown said the waves were "nasty, dumpy rollers," and an accident waiting to happen.

"We thought 'oh God something's going to happen' and next minute this little head was bobbing out in the sea and this guy was just off with his boots and out there."

However Mr Fraser was modest about his efforts, leaving the scene shortly after and playing down his bravery.

"The attention is a bit embarrassing actually, I was just there and it's just one of those things that anyone would do, you don't think about, you just do.

"But when you do stop and think about it, well, it was all a bit much, I'm still a bit shaken up because he nearly died - it could have gone horribly wrong.

"I had to have a couple of beers last night to calm down, and we went fishing where no one was around today."

St John Ambulance Hastings Operations team manager John Plastow said the young boy was "a very lucky child".

The waves were "massive", yes when something near-tragedy like this happens the waves will most certainly not "mild".   Thank God for Mr. Fraser's heroism!

Pray for Chaz the fisherman of the Big Island

Urgent prayers are needed from this case:

Search crews continue to look for a fisherman who was swept into the ocean off the Big Island.

Firefighters got the emergency call just before 3 p.m. Saturday afternoon.fficials say a man had been throwing a net with a friend at South Point when he got swept out from the shore. Coast Guard officials identify the man as 29 year old Ceasare Moses. His family calls him "Chaz."

"Some freak waves come in and like three of them, and then the third one is the one that took him out to sea," says Cyboy Lopez. "The coast guard and firefighters is doing a wonderful job - just you know - reading the area all over. You know not only where he was last seen but the whole coastline of Ka'u."

Chaz has been to south point many times to fish. Chaz lives in Pahala. He was wearing a black shirt and black shorts.

Lord, please bring back Chaz safely, all glory be to God, now and forever!

Happened at Daytona Beach

Here's a depressing tragic case reported here:

Tacorey Williams said a group of people came to Daytona Beach to enjoy the surf. She said two friends were swimming when they were hit by a monster wave.

Williams said one of her friends came back, but the other, Dauphin, did not.

"They were pretty far away," she said. "I don?t know how many feet, but they were above waist, I know that for sure. He tried to help, but the wave pushed him farther, so why would he keep going in?"

The waves were high and the rip currents were strong in the wake of Tropical Storm Beryl, since downgraded to a tropical depression.

Now some aftermath from here:

An 18-year-old Orlando man who vanished in the violent surf Monday evening was found this morning by a bystander who was walking along the shore, said Beach Patrol Deputy Chief Scott Petersohn.

The body of Ritchey Dauphin was discovered shortly before 7 a.m. about six miles north of where the teen had initially entered the water in a fairly desolate stretch of beach, Petersohn said.

Dauphin, who had come to Daytona Beach with friends, ventured out past the sandbar behind the Desert Inn hotel Monday night. Lifeguard towers had already shut down for the day.

"He was found several miles from where he went in," Petersohn said this morning. "The current was very strong."

A young life lost just like that -- so tragically unnecessary.  When going to the beaches, monster waves and rip currents are all part of the unavoidable things nature has to offer.  Tragic or happy ending can all happen in a matter of seconds.  Thankfully there's Beach Patrol and lifeguards who are trying hard to keep the beach safe, but there are also so many things out there that can happen mostly beyond their control.  I noticed that airports have prayer rooms.  May be they can build some prayer facilities on the beach to remind people how dangerous things can be and cautious and prayer should always be part of the mindset!

Hmm, U.S. East Coast is safe from Tsunami attack!

This article in txchnologist today written by Dave Mosher, "Volcano-Triggered 'Mega Tsunamis" won't obliterate U.S. East Coast", probably will comforting many people and may be also making many people disappointed.

A tsunami triggered by landslides on the volcanic Canary Island of La Palma could crush the eastern U.S. seaboard — or not, according to the latest computer simulations.

An active volcano called Cumbre Vieja dominates La Palma’s southern flank, and someday a gargantuan chunk of it may slough into the Atlantic Ocean. Resulting waves could demolish Canary Island coasts, parts of Europe and Africa’s west coast. Then, in a cinematic twist redolent of disaster flicks like 2012, giant waves would crush the U.S. East Coast.

A group of researchers in 2001 floated the possibility that 80-foot waves from La Palma’s collapse could scour New York City, Washington D.C. and other coastal areas. Most scientists remain skeptical of this worst-case scenario and they have focused on exploring it instead of smaller and, perhaps, more likely tsunami scenarios.

So Stephan Grilli and colleagues of University of Rhode Island modeled a realistic, 19-cubic mile "much more likely to occur" landslide with the results suggest "a tsunami that would be less than 5 feet tall by the time it reached New York City. By contrast, Hurricane Irene in 2011 delivered a mostly harmless 4-foot-tall storm surge to parts of the metropolis."

Alarmists may not be happy to see these results but we can all be rest easy, thanks be to God!  Computer models can do a lot of things, for better or worse.  But one thing that can not be forced into by programing is ideological biases!  

What are we visualizing?

This article in Sea Technology  Magazine entitled "Visualizing large environmental data sets in a Global 4D viewer" showing a Makai Voyager screenshot that shows simultaneous visulizations of a hurricane model over the U.S. Atlantic seaboard and an ocean current flow model in the Pacific.  The picture  (http://sea-technology.com/images/features/2012/0512/hartman__Fig1.jpg) which is not permitted to be copied elsewhere is basically a composite snapshot and they this to say:

Having an accurate understanding of physical environmental conditions is essential to all ocean-related industries. Numerical models, informed by sensor data, have been developed for many of these industries to describe and predict the behavior of physical systems. Recently, there has been an exponential increase in the size, quality and complexity of environmental data from surveys, sensors and numerical models. 

Models often produce gigabytes or terabytes of data containing multiple variables of interest that can change in both space and time. However, the tools to process and visualize these large environmental data sets have not kept pace with the increase in data generation. Scientists, engineers and executives are facing the fundamental problem of how to efficiently manage and interpret the vast amount of oceanographic, geologic and atmospheric data being collected and modeled. Scientific and oceanographic activities are often limited to using subsets of environmental and sensor data, which increases the possibility of missing critical information. Furthermore, most data are still being presented as sequences of flat 2D images, which is an inefficient and time-consuming method of analyzing data that is inherently 3D and 4D (3D plus time). 

Well-known, highly interactive software systems that are used to view large amounts of terrain and image data, such as Google Earth, Microsoft Virtual Earth and the leading GIS software, are not capable of displaying large scientific data sets, such as volumetric (3D) data that changes in time (4D). They are primarily restricted to displaying imagery, terrain and static 3D objects. On the other hand, many existing scientific programs were not designed to easily incorporate georeferenced data such as lidar point clouds, large image files, elevation and bathymetry, and GIS data. These shortcomings in existing data fusion and visualization motivated Makai Ocean Engineering to create a tool called Makai Voyager that could combine and view all relevant scientific data in an interactive global 4D view. The software has applicability in oceanography, marine sciences, offshore oil and geophysical exploration, underwater mining and construction, coastal and environmental engineering, ROV planning and simulation, resource assessment for offshore renewable energy and defense tactical displays. 

So the article is just an advertisement for the software.  As they indicated that 4D is 3D plus time the results, which they did not show, must be composite simultaneous video displays. What I am wondering about  is what I am gathering is that they are obviously combining measurements from sensors with models.  If so, isn't that mixing oranges with apples?  We are living in a bewildered world as we are already , what does mixed up more model imaginations with realities would accomplish?  Aren't we living in a make-believe world when they tell us what exactly the temperature will be 100 years from now but still can't get the temperature tomorrow right?  The wonder world of technology can do a lot of good things, but what they can NOT substitute is the simple reality!

Rogue wave the Number one cruise ship mishap!

The Conde Nast Traveler magazine just published an article on their web site today entitled: "The four common cruise ship mishaps (Hint: Not icebergs)".  The four mishaps are: rogue waves, storms, fires, and collisions.  Here's what they have to say about their number one mishap:

Rogue Wave

Rogue waves up to 100 feet tall are a spontaneous natural phenomenon that cannot easily be predicted. In 2005, the Grand Voyager of Iberojet Cruises was smacked by a wave that knocked out propulsion and communications systems and injured 20 passengers. In 2010, the Louis Majesty, operated by Louis Cruise Lines, was struck by 26-foot waves off the coast of France, smashing glass and killing two of the 1,400 passengers and injuring another 14.

PREVENTIVE MEASURES: Ship windows are being strengthened, and scientists are studying the prevalence of rogue waves across the ocean so that ships can be warned to avoid high-risk areas.

EFFECTIVENESS: The unpredictable nature of these waves can make them difficult to forecast. Researchers are continuing to improve their methods, in the hope of one day developing a more accurate early-warning system.

MOST COMMON REASON FOR FAILURE: Lack of reliable data. (Boldface emphasis mine.) 

Which is a quite concise and informative narration.   Off-hand I can't find anything to add or modify.  I especially appreciate their stressing of the "unpredictable nature" of these waves and that they provided "Lack of reliable data" As the "Most common reason for failure", something one rarely finds in most scientific literatures.  I hope someone in the scientific world would pay attention. One big thumb-up for the Conde Nast Traveler magazine!

Guinness World Record: 78' --the largest wave ever surfed

This news item needs no introduction:

Guinness World Records can confirm that Garrett McNamara has entered the record books for surfing the largest ever wave.

The Hawaiian 44-year-old managed to surf a mammoth 78-foot wave last November at Nazaré, Portugal, a feat which has now been ratified by GWR after examining evidence.

His epic ride, which required him to be towed into the wave from a jetski, beats a record set by Mike Parsons at Cortes Bank in southern California, in 2008 by over a foot.

Go here to see the picture and video of the recording setting surfing in action.  I am certain Mr. Garrett McNamara is very happy and proud of setting this record and his name is now permanently entered into the record books.  As stated in the article, this new record beats the previous record by "over a foot".  Now what I am wondering is HOW did the Guinness World Record measure the height of the wave that was being surfed with this kind of accuracy?

Perils of fishing from the rocks

Tragedies can happen any place, any times even without the encounter of an apparent freaque wave as this Western Australia case recently reported by Australia's ABC News:

A 63-year-old South Australian man has drowned while fishing from rocks near Esperance in Western Australia.

The man died at Quagi Beach, about 80-kilometeres west of Esperance, on Saturday afternoon.

It is believed he lost his footing and slid into the ocean when he was hit by a wave.

The man's wife and two friends tried to save him but were unsuccessful.

Senior Sergeant Ricky Chadwick says it was a freak accident.

"His wife and friends had been travelling around Australia," he said.

"They were passing through Esperance and decided to camp at Quagi Beach for a couple of days; they'd been fishing there previously.

"On this occasion, unfortunately he slipped into the water and wasn't able to get himself back out."

Sergeant Chadwick says the conditions made it very difficult for the man to climb back up to safety.

"Fishing on rocks is very risky business, where the waves crash around the edge of the rocks, there's a lot of white water," he said.

"It's very, very difficult to swim in white water, people can panic so it doesn't take a lot to get yourself in a very dangerous predicament.

"Just one slight mishap has unfortunately ended tragically for this man and his family."

Yes, it was "just one slight mishap" that caused this unnecessary tragic case that should never, ever, be happen.  Let's hope and pray that it will indeed never, ever, be happen again!

"It's hard to be happy and sad at the same time."

This article from 9news tells a rather sad story.  As the title of the article "Boat accident survivor 'owes life to missing friend'" pretty much spelled it out the essence of the details:

A woman who swam for three hours to reach land in the dead of the night after her boat capsized the Queensland coast says her survival is owed to her friend, who remains missing. 

 Candace Tommy and her work colleague Gavin Studwell, 39, were fishing near the Gold Coast when their 4.2m boat was struck by a freak wave at 2am on April 18.

 "Two freak waves… it's the last thing you would have expected," Ms Tommy told Nine News.

 "I thought ‘This is it, this is the end’." 

 Mr Studwell helped Ms Tommy to gain confidence in the water, telling her: "Keep listening to my voice. Focus on the lights. Swim towards the lights."

 The pair was washed apart when another huge wave rolled in but Ms Tommy was determined to make it to shore.

 She swam for three hours through jellyfish–infested water to reach Main Beach.

 "I said to myself 'I've got to get home. I'm going home. I'm going home to see my mum'," she said.

 Once she reached shore, Ms Tommy assumed Mr Studwell had already made it.

 Finding out he was still missing was hard to take.

 "It's very cold comfort," she said.

"It's hard to be happy and sad at the same time."

Clearly the last line gives the punch line of the story -- you can't be happy and sad at the same time!  We still don't know what had happened to her friend who basically saved her life by inspiring confidence in her.   Was it another freaque wave?   We can certainly share her anguish in being saved but her friend is still missing.  I guess the more fundamental point is that we still don't have any notion about this kind of freaque waves in the shallow part of the sea.  We don't know why and how it had happened -- "two freaque waves" this time.  They just kept on happening, over and over.  Academically we just try different or varied formulations.  Problem remains unsolved!  What else can the scientific world do?

A sailor's tale ?!

This was in the news a few weeks back in this article in scotsman.com:

A SAILOR who is part of Edinburgh’s Clipper round the world yacht race has told how he helped save lives after another vessel was hit by freak waves.

Callum Watt splits his time between the Capital’s entry and other boats and was on the Geraldton Western Australia when it was hit by a 120ft-high surge last week.

Four crew members were badly injured and the yacht was damaged when the wave hit, 400 miles from San Francisco.

The 24-year-old, from Falkirk, had to tend to the injured and liaise with the US coastguard to get help.

He said: “The wave which rolled the boat must have been over 120ft high, taller than the mast. The force of the water was incredible and the boat was thrown around. It ripped off the satellite communication dome and steering post and below deck was awash.

“Two were in a bad way and examining and monitoring their vital signs on a boat that’s pitching and rolling was a challenge.”

Now 120 ft high wave, that's a large wave all right.  And it is not a wild guess either -- specifically it's "taller than the mast"!  What's there to doubt?

Well, in the Comments a lone commenter had this to say:

Freak wave ? More journalistic hyperbole. There is no such thing as a freak wave. Very large waves can occur when different wave patterns meet and add thus creating an irregular out of pattern wave which, and the Geraldton had the wind and hence waves coming from behind, probably came up unnoticed by the crew on deck and caught them unawares and caused the boat to broach. That might make the wave seem to be 120ft high

Interesting non-believer's view point!  "There is no such thing as a freak wave." Something you don't see or hear very much in this day and age. He spelled out the linear superposition idea on how it did happen.  And he speculated that it was "unnoticed by the crew on deck".  If it was unnoticed by the crew, wouldn't it be something freaque in the first place? Anyhow, this 120 ft high estimation of waves did not seem to make a lot of news otherwise!  Of course it's from the sailor of Edinburgh's Clipper, it must be an "Old sailor's tale" ;-) is it not?
                                                                                                                                 

What's going on?

The world is changing faster than anyway expected or anticipated -- O.K. may be not this world, but this blogger is!  I was just away for a few days, attended this year's EGU general assembly in Vienna, this blog system as I have been using for 6 or 7 years is all of a sudden become all different now.  I don't know what to make of this.  There is even a video showing how to post, but I have absolutely no idea what they are trying to show me.  What's going on?  A freaque wave must have just hit this blogging system.  For better or worse, I have to feel my way around the system again, re-learn the familiar things that have somewhat lost. Stay tuned!

Update:

O.K. it's just a minor transformation into a newer format and system -- may even be an improved system. Nothing to be alarmed or bragged about.  The world turns as usual!

FLIP

Wave researches must have heard of the FLIP (FLoating Instrument Platform) is a research vessel that can rotate to a vertical position. It is currently owned by the Scripps Institution of Oceanography.  But the details about the FLIP do not seem to be well known.  I am thrilled to have come across this following video that's telling all about the FLIP.  It is specially designed.  Clearly it is not open to general public and it is certainly not cheap to do research there.  The video says that it can survive waves up to 80 feet.  I doubt if they have really  ever encountered a real freaque wave yet!

A happening off Gold Coast

This news from the Australian today has a long headline: "Police confident they will find fisherman sunk by freak wave off the Gold Coast."

POLICE are confident they can find a man missing off the Gold Coast since his boat capsized, after his female companion swam for at least three hours to raise the alarm.
The Gold Coast man, 39, was fishing with a family friend, a woman aged 29, when they were thrown from the 4.2 metre fibreglass boat some time between 9pm and 11pm yesterday.
They started swimming to shore but the woman lost voice contact with the man and became separated after about an hour.
It took her at least three hours to swim back to shore, where she raised the alarm at a Main Beach hotel about 2am.
A huge search is underway for the missing man.
Senior Sergeant Lucas Young of Gold Coast Water Police says the woman has confirmed a black jacket found around 8.30am is hers, and was on board the boat at the time.
The couple didn't have time to grab life jackets or a distress beacon when two large waves hit their boat, the second one causing it to take on water and quickly sink, he said.
Police are hopeful of finding the man, Sen Sgt Young told reporters.
"We're fairly confident we could locate him, yep," he said.
"Last night the wind has dropped out, there's not a big swell out there.
"In these conditions, this gentleman has had experience fishing offshore on the Gold Coast so I can't see any issues there."
He says visibility from the air is good.
There are no suggestions the man had been drinking.
Sen Sgt Young said the woman's efforts were extraordinary.
"She was very fatigued and struggled up the beach over a period of half an hour just to raise the alarm," he said.
The woman was suffering mild hypothermia and shock, and is recovering in Gold Coast Hospital.
Helicopters, jet skis, boats and shore line searchers are scouring the coastline to three nautical miles offshore.
They are yet to find the boat.

This report used the word "freaque" since there can be no doubt as to what had happened. The wind was calm and no big waves were reported when it was so happened that they "didn't have time to grab life jackets or a distress beacon when two large waves hit their boat, the second one causing it to take on water and quickly sink, . . ."

Let's pray that the police;s optism will be realized and rge missing fisherman will be rescued!

Another Yacht race, another tragedy!

Here's from yesterday's Vancouver Sun:

A U.S. flag is seen at half mast at the San Francisco Yacht Club in Belvedere, California April 15, 2012. One sailor died and four were missing after powerful waves battered a sailboat during a yacht race and tossed it into rocks around islands off San Francisco, officials said on Sunday. The eight-member crew of the Low Speed Chase set sail on Saturday as one of 49 yachts competing in the Full Crew Farallones, an annual race around the rugged island chain, according to San Francisco Yacht Club's Director Ed Lynch, where the yacht is based.

This is now a worldwide news, the above reports seems to summarized the best on what had happened:  "powerful" waves caused the happening.  The Vancouver Sun article was by Emmett Berg of Reuters, with Photographer Stephen Lam also of Reuters.  Some more details:

The vessel Low Speed Chase, a 11.5-metre racing and cruising sailboat with a crew of eight, was one of 49 yachts competing on Saturday in a race around South Farallon Island, part of a rugged, sparsely populated chain offshore from San Francisco.

Officials said trouble began as the vessel rounded South Farallon Island on Saturday afternoon. A large wave initially swept four crew members into the ocean and when those remaining aboard tried to turn the craft around, another wave pushed the boat onto rocks, where it foundered. Local media said the second wave tossed three more people into the water.

Please refer to the article for further details.  Not much information about the waves except the descriptive adjectives: a "large" or "powerful" wave swept four crew members into the sea.



The article also alluded to this:

The accident came two weeks after a monster wave smashed into an Australian yacht taking part in a round-the-world race. Four crew members were hurt in that accident, which took place 400 nautical miles off the California coast, and the Coast Guard had to be called in to help. No one was killed.

So this is the yacht race season that's not at all immune to freaque wave attacks and accidents. For us interested bystanders I guess we can only pray for the save recovery of those who are still missing and may God bless those who had lost their lives.  And hope science can help to improve the safety and effective rescue efforts of the exciting sea going sports someday!

Freaque wave in the lab tank

Here's an interesting article from here (the phys.org):

(PhysOrg.com) -- Scientists have used a Lego pirate floating in a fish tank to demonstrate for the first time that so-called ‘super rogue waves’ can come from nowhere in apparently calm seas and engulf ships.

The article completes with a video on the lab demonstration.

Using a scientific fish tank, a wave generator and a Lego man on a ship floating on the water surface, the scientists were able to demonstrate that rogue waves much bigger than previously thought can occur. The team have labelled these ‘super rogue waves’, as they can be up to five times bigger than the other waves around them.

It's certainly interesting to watch.  But the nagging question remains: Where does it lead to the events in the real ocean out there?  Here's the paper's answer:

“Of course, in real oceans the problem will require more careful analysis, but we expect the result to have a significant impact on the studies of extreme ocean waves and more generally, extreme events in nature and society.”

Now here's a further question: how much do we really know about what's happening in the real ocean beyond speculation?  We can produce freaque waves in the laboratory tank.  But how was the freaque waves in the real ocean generated ?!?

Rescued in the Pacific Ocean by the U.S. Coast Guard

This news is by CNN:

(CNN) -- The U.S. Coast Guard has dispatched a cutter and helicopter to rescue the crew of a yacht that got caught in stormy seas during a race around the world, the race organizer said Sunday.

The yacht, the Geraldton Western Australia, was hit by a large wave that swept away steering and communications equipment, according to organizers from the Clipper Round the World Race.

The wave also left four crew members with injuries, including possible broken ribs, pelvic sprain and back injury, organizers said. It hit the yacht in stormy weather about 400 miles off the coast of California as the yacht made its way from China to San Francisco.

The USCG Cutter Bertholf was en route and expected to reach yacht Sunday morning and launch a rescue chopper, U.S. Coast Guard Petty Officer Levi Read said.

The yacht is still in rough conditions, with 9- to 15-foot seas, Read said.

Three of the injured crew are based in Britain and one is Australian, race organizers said.

The race named them as Nik Brbora, 28, a software engineer with a possible pelvic sprain; Jane Hitchins, 50, a doctor with four suspected broken ribs; Mark Burkes, 37, with a back injury; Max Wilson, 62, with two suspected cracked or broken ribs. Wilson is the Australian.

Race organizers said the rest of the crew is "uninjured but shaken by the incident."

A container ship is changing course to meet the stricken yacht, but the Coast Guard will get there first to help stabilize the injured, organizers said.

The 11-month race pits 10 68-foot yachts crewed by amateurs against each other on a 40,000-mile journey around the world. It began in August.

CNN's Alicia Eakin contributed to this report.

So the yacht was hit by a large wave -- did not use the "rogue" word or "freaque" word, which can be interpreted as such.  There is no indication of the size of the large wave, but the sea was still in 9-15 ft waves during the rescue.  Can we classify this as a freaque wave encounter?  I would vote for yes!  By the way the CNN article indicated that there's video but it does not seem to be working at this time.  Hope speedy recovery for the injured crew members.  Salute to the U.S. Coast Guard!

Update:

News reports around the world have all starting to report this case. This UK news paper did use the "freak" word.

Update April 6, 2012


This report has some detailed descriptions of the wave: “The wave which rolled the boat must have been over 120ft high, taller than the mast. The force of the water was incredible and the boat was thrown around. It ripped off the satellite communication dome and steering post and below deck was awash."